The Age of Empires franchise is based on an expansive period of history. As such, it has featured several historical figures, battles, empires, and other details as part of its canon. Even so, with how endless world history is, there are naturally a ton of golden opportunities that were either sorely missed or have yet to appear in the game and remain highly requested.
Stuff that has already been considered but implemented later can be found in the franchise-wide Refitted For Sequel subpage.
Examples for Age of Empires II can be found here.
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Age of Empires I
In general
- The strict conservatism of the Definitive Edition. The game and visuals were redone from scratch, but other than correcting bugs, making farms walkable and renaming scenarios and heroes, there were no real changes made. Not even incorporating completely simple and sensible things that were done in AoE II ages ago (and were intended for AoE in some cases), like formations, queueing, non-convertible and regenerating heroes, non-Middle Eastern animals and trees, domestic animals, snow and ice, or even women, just to "keep AoE and AoE II separate games". On top of that, units still get stuck constantly, and the absurdly low population limit of 50 remains in place throughout the entire campaign mode. End result? Critics said the DE was a good game, if it had come out 20 years ago. The game doesn't even feature any new civilizations like II and III do, even with plenty of ancient powers like the Indus Valley Civilization, Kushites, Celts, and Scythians just sitting there.
Civilizations
- The most glaring omission from the civilization roster is the Indus Valley Civilization. Alongside the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Chinese (the latter of which are represented by the Shang), the Indus Valley Civilization were famously one of the first great cultures in human history. Like the Sumerians and Egyptians, they were masters of agriculture and benefited from the fertility of their homeland. As the first Age of Empires game is focused more on the emergence of civilizations than specific historical figures, an Indus civilization would have fit perfectly into the base game and also be a potential doorway for the later Mauryan Empire.
- Excluding the Mediterranean, Europe is completely unrepresented. In particular, the game is sorely lacking a Celtic civilization. Prior to the Roman conquests, the Celts were the dominant power of continental Europe, and their culture is well-known and tracked. They would ultimately appear as a playable faction in Age of Empires II instead, but in that game, they only represent the comparatively minor kingdoms of Scotland and Ireland, while their Woad Raider unique unit is badly out of its time. Not until the ill-fated Age of Empires Online would the franchise finally introduce a faithful representation of the ancient pagan Celts.
- No American civilizations appear in the game, despite there being several major ancient civilizations in South America such as Las Vegas and Norte Chico, not to mention the Olmecs of Central America.
- The Etruscans are mentioned in the Rise of Rome campaign but are not introduced as their own civilization in the game itself. Weird considering the game already has plenty successor cultures and their ancestors being separate playable factions like Sumer-Babylon, Palmyra-Carthage and Greece-Macedonia.
- Aside from Rome, Palmyra, and Yamato Japan, late antiquity is largely ignored in the game. This means prominent civilizations from the first several centuries A.D. such as the Han Dynasty of China, Scythians, Kushites, Xiongnu, and Vandals are nowhere to be found. Some factions, such as the Goths, Huns, and Sassanid-based Persiansnote , would later appear as civilizations in Age of Empires II, but even there, they are stylistically out-of-place due to the game's primary focus on the middle ages.
- Rise of Rome added a Roman civilization, obviously... and three other civilizations (Macedonian, Carthaginian, Palmyran) that were already covered in the game (as Greeks, Phoenicians, and, arguably, the Romans themselves). Then the new Roman campaigns had scenarios set in Europe with awkward Middle Eastern civilizations filling in for Britons and Gauls.
Campaigns and Historical Battles
- The Glory of Greece campaign only briefly focuses on Classical Greece, which just one mission based on Alexander the Great. Most of the campaign is instead set during the Mycenaean era, before the era the civilization is most famous for.
- The Rise of Rome campaigns never really address the Dacians, who were one of the most prominent enemies of Rome in Europe.
- In contrast to most campaigns, which have six scenarios, Ave Caesar only has four. And none of them depict Alexandria, Utica, or Munda.
Age of Mythology
Civilizations
- The Romans. While they could have similarities with the Greeks, it's possible for them to be added while being made unique and fun enough. It ended up sadly with the in-game Atlanteans being designed after them and the Aztecs.
- The Polynesians despite not being as technologically advanced as the other examples on this list are interesting enough to warrant mentioning and could have the likely potential of being an unorthodox gimmicky faction.
- The Celts have a rich ancient culture and folklore that was contemporary of Greece and Rome. Just like the first AOE game, the lack of any Celtic people in AOM despite their importance is quite tragic.
- The Slavs would have been a great compliment to the Norse to represent eastern Europe. Like the Norse (which also cover Germanic religions), the Slavs were polytheistic and had plenty of figures and creatures that would've worked well in the game. With enough research and imagination they could be made different enough from the Norse and Celts.
- The Mesopotamians. Based on the design of the Norse, this civilization likely would've covered both the Sumerians as well as the later Assyrians and Babylonians, as both were polytheistic civilizations with rich mythologies.
- The Yoruba of West Africa. The Definitive Edition for AOEIII proves there is plenty interest in Sub-Saharan cultures, plus they have enough to work with and be made into a playable faction.
- The Japanese. Shinto is well-known for its wide variety of kami deities and folktale yokai creatures that would've translated seamlessly into Age of Mythology, while also having an interesting dynamic with the added Chinese.
- The Indians are another really obvious omission. Considering how diverse the country's religious catalogue is and the role of great deities in Hinduism, they were basically served on a platter. Granted it won't be simple and easy, but it has been proven that Hindu people and their culture are possible being respectfully depicted and represented into the video game medium.
- The Aztecs were apparently considered for the first expansion but were eventually changed to the Atlanteans, as evidenced by the latter's architectural style strongly resembling Mesoamerican buildings.
- The Incas like the above have great potential as a playable native american culture and faction. Considering they eventually were added to both AOEII and AOEIII, this means they have potential in AOM as well.
Campaigns and Historical Battles
- The fact that the campaign mode is one long fictional story with only vague elements of actual mythologies. Not only does this result in a serious Anachronism Stew, featuring medieval Viking-based Norse coexisting with Bronze Age Egyptians and Mycenaean Greeks with more of an aesthetic resemblance to Classical Greece, it also means the game is poor at educating players about the mythologies of each civilization the way the first two Age of Empires games familiarized their audience with historical empires.
Age of Empires III
Civilizations
- The Asian Dynasties missed a golden opportunity to include the Burmese and Siamese as new factions. Both forged massive empires that coexisted with the European superpowers of the era at their height, while the Siamese in particular were never conquered by a foreign power. Their mascots likely would have been Bayinnaung and Mongkut, respectively. Bayinnaung at least starred as the title figure in his own campaign in Age of Empires II with the Rise of the Rajas expansion, but the Siamese remain completely unrepresented in the series, despite the prestige and size of the Rattanakosin Kingdom near the end of III's timeframe.
- The Tatars are included as a Historical Battles-only faction in the Definitive Edition. Considering their inclusion would've been a nice nod to the recent The Last Khans expansion for Age of Empires II and the prominent role of the Crimean Khanate during the timeframe of III, it's painful that they're not actually playable.
- Excluding the Ottomans (and the Indians, to a partial degree), there is a serious dearth of factions representing the Muslim world. The Persians had the formidable Safavid Empire, the Omani forged a major colonial empire along the Swahili Coast, North Africa had the Sultanate of Morocco, and Afghanistan had the Durrani Empire. As mentioned above, the Tatars would've also added some much-needed variety to the game's list of Muslim civilizations.
- The "indigenous" tribes of the game are exclusive to North and South America, despite plenty of room for variety from different parts of the world. In addition to the aforementioned Africa, there could have easily been Pacific Islander tribes as natives and/or playable factions, such as the Maori or Hawaiians (with Kamehameha the Great being an ideal personality for the latter).
- Restricting the native settlements to "religious groups" in The Asian Dynasties maps means that they didn't get to feature tribes from the region, such as the Ainu of Japan, nor the native tribes of Siberia for example.
Campaigns and Historical Battles
- Using entirely fictional stories backdropped to historical events instead of entirely historical campaigns like the previous games. Especially glaring is the ample material in North American history from the time period used in the game. This does not apply to the second expansion although it does take a few liberties with things (i.e. the Chinese being the first to discover America and erasing proof of their presence.) This is especially egregious considering that the first two Age of Empires games had several campaigns, all based on real historical events.
- The first expansion had Nathaniel Black, son of John Black, as the main character of the "Fire" Campaign (which revolved around the Iroquois), and Chayton Black, the son of Amelia Black, as the main character of the "Shadow" Campaign (where you played as the Sioux). Considering the expansion pack introduces 3 new civilizations, as well as the fact that we didn't learn anything about John Black's father Phillipe in the first game, you'd think they'd have him be the main character of a third campaign where you played as the Aztecs (the third civilization introduced) to complete the trifecta, but nope
- Considering that the Incas became a civilization in Definitive Edition, a campaign involving Phillipe could've been Inca-focused.
- Morgan and Lizzie had four sons. They split, Morgan raised two (John's father, Phillipe, and Stuart) and Lizzie raised two. We never hear anything of the other two raised by a Pirate Girl, not even in the expansions.
- Only the Maltese, Haudenosaunee, Sioux, Japanese, Chinese and Indians are actually playable in the campaigns. For everything else, it's the Black family. Special regards go to the Portuguese and Dutch, who don't even show up as enemies.
- Many of the European empires present in the game actually interacted with India, China, Japan, and the rest of Asia quite a bit during the time period covered, but you wouldn't get that idea from the Asian campaigns beyond the British in India. Special mention again goes to the Portuguese and Dutch, as the Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Japan and founded Nagasaki, and built the colony of Macau, while the Netherlands established the Dutch East Indies in modern Indonesia and helped drive away the Spanish and Portuguese from Taiwan and Japan.
- The decision to make the game about American colonization, first and foremost. Imagine how different it could have been if that central role had been given to Old World conflicts with names as suggestive as The Thirty Years War, The Eighty Years War, or the Polish Deluge.
Age of Empires IV
- While a good throwback to Age of Empires II, one can't help but think the game would be a more unique entry and fitting to the progress of history feel of the original Age of Empires trilogy if it focused on 20th century wars as the hardcover artbook in the collector's edition of III implied.
